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					<div class="Header"><h1>The Redemptorist Retreat Center</h1></div>
					<div class="Header">A Place of Peace in a Busy World</div>
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									By 1927, the world had become a pretty amazing place.&nbsp; 
									Lindbergh had flown over the Atlantic and Admiral Byrd had 
									flown over the North Pole.&nbsp; There were transatlantic 
									telephone calls and even movies that talked. &nbsp; All 
									this &quot;progress&quot; had a way of distracting people 
									away from God, and so it was with the idea of bringing men 
									and women back to God that the Redemptorists began the retreat 
									movement in Oconomowoc.</font>
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									During the summer of 1927 when the students moved to Snyder's 
									pasture, the seminary building was readied for its first 
									retreatants.&nbsp; The Knights of Columbus from Beaver Dam 
									led off with a good crowd of 41 men.&nbsp; Father Polk, 
									a veteran Redemptorist missionary, led the conferences.
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									Of course, in the beginning there were a lot of difficulties 
									to be ironed out.&nbsp; Fr. Polk, for example, was an easy 
									talker.&nbsp; He could ramble on for hours.&nbsp; And he 
									did, so the annals say.&nbsp; Results? &nbsp; Hungry retreatants, 
									cold suppers, and impatient cooks.&nbsp;&nbsp; Father Polk 
									himself decided to take drastic measures.&nbsp; He placed 
									a &quot;Big Ben&quot; alarm clock on the altar.&nbsp; When 
									his half-hour was up, 'Big Ben&quot; began to shriek. &nbsp; 
									Unconsciously, without interrupting his flow of talk, the 
									old missionary swung his huge hand back and snuffed &quot;Big 
									Ben&quot; out.&nbsp; Fifty minutes later the conference 
									ended.
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									Through the combined effort of the Redemptorists and support 
									from the Catholic laity throughout southeastern Wisconsin, 
									the retreat movement grew until the start of World War II.&nbsp; 
									Each weekend packed in capacity crowds of 130 retreatants.&nbsp; 
									Still, the lay retreat movement was makeshift.&nbsp; Ordinarily 
									only six or seven retreats were given each year because 
									the students would have to move back into the seminary once 
									summer had ended.&nbsp; In spite of these restrictions, 
									the retreat movement acquired an admirable record.&nbsp; 
									About 182 retreats were preached over forty years, seeing 
									nearly 14,500 retreatants step out of the world's noisy 
									rush to attend to the business of seeking God.
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									That is a fair record.&nbsp; But it will be greater in the 
									years to come.
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												In 1960 the Redemptorists announced that with the enrollment 
												of 116 seminarians due in the fall, there would be 
												no room for the retreat program.&nbsp; A new facility 
												needed to be found.&nbsp; In 1961 the Redemptorists 
												purchased part of the former General Otto H. Falk 
												estate on Crooked Lake for this purpose.&nbsp; After 
												remodeling the estate and building a new 60-room retreat 
												center to house retreatants, Fr. Patty Schwarz, C.Ss.R. 
												preached the first retreat on October 12, 1963.&nbsp; 
												Ninty-one retreatants renewed their love for God that 
												weekend.&nbsp; The center was dedicated in honor of 
												Our Mother of Perpetual Help.
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									<i>After seventy-one years of preaching lay retreats in Oconomowoc, 
									Redemptorists continue to remain true to the spirit of Saint 
									Alphonsus.&nbsp; We have been graced by the hundreds of 
									thousands of men and women, over these many years, who have 
									searched and have discovered this place of peace in a busy 
									world.</i>
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